sporadic Nintendo griping

I haven’t followed E3 very much since about 2008. In fact, I haven’t been following much of the gaming industry at all since then. (Can i be blamed?)

So it’s been an ironic surprise that, in my lack of awareness that E3 was happening this morning, nothing much has changed in my absence. Seriously. Sony’s still improving what they do well, Microsoft is still going after a Wii-esque audience, and Nintendo has yet to learn the definition of ‘innovation.’

Nintendo – in its continued futile attempts to regain the respect of the most hardcore audience in gaming’s history – is actually harping on the same old tune from 2008: “we want our hardcores back!” Now it’s mixed with a little bit of “sorry about that (but not really),” bringing out a 2nd Wii console that adds YOU to the mix. More specifically, ‘U.’ Read more…

“Fanboy distress is at the same time the expression of real distress and the protest against real distress. Fanboyism is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, just as it is the spirit of a spiritless situation. It is the opium of the internet.”

I picked this up a bit late (it’s hard catching up on neglected feeds), but i’ll run with it anyway.

In August, it was revealed that Nintendo no longer permitted Mr. Shiggs Miyamoto-san to offer details of his personal hobbies and habits to the press and public. It came as a result of Shiggs pastimes becoming Nintendo hits, most of which he openly discussed with the media prior to the respective games’ development (Pikmin, Wii Music, Nintendogs).

As you may or may not know, Shiggs is essentially a dutiful slave to Nintendo corporate, still living off a supervisor’s salary while Reggie and Iwata get loaded off his hit ideas. That explains this weird-but-understandable business decision, and also why the man is in his mid-50s and still has no retirement plans.

Wow, who’da thought. Then again, it’s more of a fanman story than the company itself, but let’s assess the situation.

If you follow Apple news, you’d know that next year’s Macworld Expo is surprisingly Apple’s last showing at the press gathering they’ve attended for 25 years running. Ironic to me since it’s the Macworld Expo, but hey, i’m not in the industry. The matter seems to be that many fans are upset (and quietly seething) about this, howling that Apple has turned their backs on the user/fanbase that has devoutly followed them to [wherever the expo is held] for 25 years. The decision seems to have been made on behalf of the fact that Apple is so goddamn huge now in the public consciousness that they can hold any event at anytime they damn well please.

With this move, Apple – a company which makes endearing products that attach to consumer’s hearts and minds like metroids, sucking out any surviving tolerance for Windows – has effectively farted on their fanpeople’s heads. A move that always sends the followers into a rage.

Game industry adherents know this as the Nintendo Syndrome. At this year’s E3, Nintendo produced a lowlight of a presentation with Shaun White’s Snowboarding and Wii Music as the cornerstones of their keynote. They were hot, selling consoles to men, women, and dogs alike, yet they decided, “fuck you guys, we’ll show you when we wanna,” and held off on making any significant reveals til later in the year, on their own clock. Of course, Nintendo was on the Path of Betrayal long before that, but the similarity here is uncanny.

To remind all the fanmen and fanwomen out there and paraphrase what Jim said: They’re a corporation, stupids.